New Richmond Gallery Named For Thalhimer

RICHMOND — The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' newly opened European and American Decorative Arts Gallery has been named for the late Morton G. Thalhimer of Richmond.

"We are profoundly grateful to the Morton G. and Ruth W. Thalhimer Foundation, without whose support this long-awaited gallery would not have been realized," said museum director Paul N. Perrot.

Joseph R. Bliss, assistant curator of European decorative arts to 1900, said many of the European objects on display in the new gallery never have been shown publicly because of space restrictions at the museum. Among them are a large sculpture in biscuit porcelain of the mythological figure Diana the Huntress made in Paris during the 19th century and a magnificent silver-gilt covered cup from Renaissance Germany recently acquired by the museum.

Many of the European objects came to the museum through the estate of Ailsa Mellon Bruce of New York City and as gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Hofheimer II of Norfolk and the late Nancy, Lady Astor, of Cliveden, Buckinghamshire, England. Lady Astor was a native of Danville.

The American collection of silver and glass objects contains pieces by the famous silversmith Paul Revere and extensive holdings in pressed glass, much of it made by the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company.

Among American objects installed in the new gallery are examples from an important collection of early Virginia silver given in 1964 by G. Alexander Robertson of Richmond and his wife, Mary G. Robertson, and a large collection of American pressed glass given in 1969 by Mr. and Mrs. William B. Thalhimer Sr.

Morton G. Thalhimer first was appointed to the museum's board of trustees in 1952 and served until 1967. Mrs. Thalhimer has long been a member of the volunteer Council of the Virginia Museum and The Fellows of the Virginia Museum.

The museum is on the Boulevard at 2800 Grove Ave. The galleries are open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (until 10 p.m. Thursdays) and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. The suggested admission donation is $2; members, their guests, children and the elderly are admitted free.